Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 80,567 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 80,567 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $61,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its stake in Halliburton by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after purchasing an additional 23,340 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 56.5% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 157,085 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,563,000 after acquiring an additional 56,707 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management raised its holdings in Halliburton by 180.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 28,125 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Halliburton by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $487,522,000 after acquiring an additional 3,150,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 2,418.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 78,387 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,277,000 after purchasing an additional 75,275 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.42.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $25.17 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $25.16 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The stock has a market cap of $22.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.89, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $27.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.38.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

About Halliburton

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services that include stimulation and sand control services; cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, and casing equipment; and completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, and service tools, as well as liner hanger, sand control, and multilateral systems.